


Three's Company

by idlestories



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Humor, I refuse to believe Gaius doesn't smoke sorry, Kinda, M/M, Multi, OT3, Polyamory, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:21:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28967505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idlestories/pseuds/idlestories
Summary: “So,” she started. He tipped his head back in despair. “This thing, the three of you.” He waited. “Is it a one-off?”“Morgana, I swear to-”“Gwen?”“No, it isn’t, actually.”Morgana hummed. “I thought not. Well, I can’t say I ever approved of you dating Arthur, but at least Merlin is a good sign for your taste.”Or: 5 times various people find out about their slightly unconventional relationship, and Merlin and Gwen being partners in embarrassing Arthur to death.
Relationships: Gwen/Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 31
Kudos: 91





	Three's Company

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eat_crow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eat_crow/gifts).



> a break from my usual merthur as a happy birthday to [ eat_crow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eat_crow/pseuds/eat_crow)!! they are the best and this fic was inspired by several very funny conversations about The Triumvirate (their term). but then i got carried away, hence why it's getting posted when there's only 10 mins left of their bday in my timezone, whoops. 5 more hours for them though, boom, time management.
> 
> enjoy!

**1 – Morgana (final year of uni)**

Arthur’s forearm and jaw were starting to ache, but Gwen’s breathing was starting to hitch as she moaned into Merlin’s mouth, and her thighs tightened pleasantly at Arthur’s sides. He had long since learned his lesson about experimentation, and kept going, not letting up until she was gasping his name and clenching around him, one hand tight in his hair. When it was over, he sat back, satisfied, and watched Merlin kiss her, doing most of the work and licking sloppily into her mouth as she recovered.

He leant back down and kissed her hip, smooth skin hot under his lips, and opened his mouth to speak. Before he could, the door slammed open to reveal Morgana, impossibly elegant as usual, an expression of utmost horror on her face as she took in the scene on the bed. Arthur’s heart seized.

“Jesus!” he shouted, scrambling desperately to cover himself with something, anything.

“Fuck!” She clamped her eyes shut.

Arthur yanked the sheet from under Merlin and pulled it over his lower body, chucking some over Gwen as an afterthought.

Merlin gave him a look. “Gee, thanks,” he said pointedly, looking down at his own nakedness. Arthur made a face at him and Merlin grinned and shrugged, sitting back on the bed. At least Morgana’s eyes were shut. Now, at least.

There was a moment of silence. Morgana took a deep breath and cleared her throat, regaining her usual icy composure in a matter of seconds.

“Hello, Gwen,” she said, eyes still shut. Arthur looked pleadingly at Gwen, who even flushed and somewhat dishevelled, was losing the battle against laughing. Her mouth twitched.

“Hi, Morgana,” she said, a little breathless.

“Merlin,” Morgana greeted.

Merlin wasn’t even trying to hide his grin. “Morgana. Always a pleasure.”

Arthur sighed. “Morgana.”

“Yes, Arthur?”

“Get the fuck out of my flat.”

Merlin snorted, turning it into a very unsubtle cough at the last second.

Morgana smiled grimly, eyes still closed. “If I ever have to see you naked again, you’re going to lose something vital.”

“This is my fucking flat.”

“You gave me a key.”

“Not so you could waltz in unannounced whenever you felt like it.”

“I knocked the front door and shouted your name, it’s not my fault if you were…otherwise occupied.”

Arthur groaned and put his head in his hands. “Get _out_.”

“So,” she started. He tipped his head back in despair. “This thing, the three of you.” He waited. “Is it a one-off?”

“Morgana, I swear to-”

“Gwen?”

“No, it isn’t, actually.”

Morgana hummed. “I thought not. Well, I can’t say I ever approved of you dating Arthur, but at least Merlin is a good sign for your taste.” Merlin sat up a little taller, pleased. Arthur narrowed his eyes at him. “But, you know, if you ever want to talk about this apparent deep inner conflict as represented in your choice of men, I’m here for you.” A tiny crinkle appeared between her perfect brows. “Really, two ends of the spectrum, these ones.”

“For the love of God, stop trying to therapize my girlfriend while I’m naked, and for the last time get out before I call the police.”

“On who? The burglar with a key? Don’t be so hysterical, Arthur.” But she turned around, finally, and headed back towards the door. Arthur relaxed. “I’m happy for you,” she added. “Don’t fuck this up.”

“I hate you.”

“I know. Bye, Gwen. Bye, Merlin.”

Arthur waited until he heard the front door click – and really, even when he wasn’t distracted, it wasn’t very loud, how was he supposed to have heard that?

Merlin snorted and lay down beside Gwen. Arthur waited, staring at the ceiling. He could tell the moment their eyes met, because they both exploded into laughter. He groaned and lay down on Gwen’s other side, face pressed into the sheet.

“I hate you both so much,” he said, voice muffled. He could feel her shaking with laughter even as they started to calm down. She kissed his head.

“She would’ve found out eventually, Arthur,” she said.

“Ideally while I was fully clothed,” he mumbled.

Merlin, having finally regained his composure, shifted onto his side. “Odds on our entire year knowing by the end of the week?”

Arthur groaned again, raising his head to glare at Merlin, whose grin only widened. He reached over and patted Arthur’s shoulder consolingly.

“Someone’s put out at being labelled the representation of bad taste in men, isn’t he?” he cooed.

Arthur pressed his face into Gwen’s shoulder.

“On the bright side,” Merlin continued. Arthur listened warily. “We weren’t finished, were we?” Arthur propped himself up on his elbows and raised an eyebrow. Merlin leaned across Gwen and kissed him, and well, he wasn’t quite sure what he had been so annoyed about.

* * *

**2 – Gwaine (final year, just before graduation)**

Merlin’s head was spinning pleasantly, grass tickling his neck and the backs of his eyelids bright and pink against the sun. He was really going to miss summer here. Three years, and it was all over in a blur of sleepless nights and frantic exams, leaving only these last few weeks in the heat, hot and slow, their time their own for once. He heard Gwen laugh in the distance and felt the corners of his mouth tug upward involuntarily. He still couldn’t quite believe he had them, both of them, the way he did.

The light changed and he frowned, opening his eyes with a squint to see a tall figure looming over him, blocking the sun. He lifted a hand to his eyes, but he couldn’t make out who it was.

“Alright, Merls? Communing with nature, are we?”

Merlin grinned and patted the patch of grass to his left. “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, Gwaine.”

Gwaine laughed easily – it had always been one of Merlin’s favourite things about him – and threw himself down beside him. Predictably, he lasted all of ten seconds of stillness before turning on his side and sighing. Merlin felt something tickle his chin and cracked his eyes open to see Gwaine holding a buttercup there. He rolled his eyes. “Not even a daisy chain? I’m wounded.”

“So demanding. You like butter, though, if you were wondering,” he said cheerfully. Merlin met his gaze, smiling himself at the crinkles by Gwaine’s and the way his hair flopped forward around his face. Gwaine tilted his head and got a familiar look in his eye, leaning forward with barely a moment’s notice to press a kiss to Merlin’s lips.

Merlin kissed back for the barest second before flicking Gwaine lightly. He pulled back immediately with a questioning look. Merlin shook his head.

“Sorry mate, I’m a taken man now. My days of debauchery are at an end.”

Gwaine put a hand to his chest, mock-horrified. “Who?”

Merlin scooted back and sat up, looking for them. Gwen and Arthur were talking to Lance and some others, leaning against each other. Arthur was gesticulating wildly about something, as usual, while Gwen watched, amused. She caught his eye and smiled, tapping Arthur on the shoulder and pointing. They started to excuse themselves.

Merlin’s stomach still clenched, sometimes, to look at Gwen, the same way it had when he first met her, first kissed her, first slept with her, back even before her and Arthur became her and Arthur. She was so beautiful, hair lit by the sun and skin glowing as she finished her drink and stood, walking over with Arthur’s hand in hers.

“Those two?” Gwaine said.

Merlin nodded, tearing his gaze away to give him an apologetic smile. Gwaine shook his head and sighed dramatically just as the two drew level with their spot on the grass. “Tragic,” he said.

“What’s so tragic, _Gawaine_?” Arthur said, tone bored and drawing Gwaine’s name out in the way he knew he hated. Merlin gave him a dirty look, violently reminded of just how much of a prat he could come across as sometimes.

Gwaine smiled with his teeth and tilted his head up at him. “Why, the fact you’ve taken my favourite booty call off the market, of course.” He laid a hand on Merlin’s knee and looked directly at Arthur before turning back. “I’ll never forget our nights together, Merls. Or our mornings. Or those lunchtimes in the library.”

Merlin watched his face take on an appropriately misty, nostalgic expression, amused. “I’m not dead, you know,” he said.

Gwaine grinned and turned his attention to Gwen, who was watching with a small smile. “My lady,” he said smoothly.

“Sir Knight,” she replied, pulling at the shorts of her floral playsuit as she bobbed in curtsey. Arthur rolled his eyes again and cleared his throat.

Gwaine’s grin widened. “Sure there’s not room for one more, Pendragon?”

“He’s really very good in bed,” Merlin offered helpfully, watching Arthur’s frown deepen.

“I _have_ always wondered…” Gwen started, breaking into laughter as his head whipped around.

“In your dreams,” Arthur said curtly, composing himself. Gwen’s thumb automatically stroked the back of his hand and warmth bloomed in Merlin’s chest at the small motion.

Gwaine just laughed again, and turned back to Merlin. “Well, my friend, one for the road?” he said hopefully. Arthur cleared his throat. Merlin smiled and held out his hand imperiously. Gwaine pressed a gentle kiss to his knuckles with a sigh. “Another one gone,” he sighed, before standing and brushing himself off. He helped Merlin up and slung an arm around his shoulders, facing Arthur again.

“You know, he really likes it when you –”

Arthur, having apparently finally reached his limit, interrupted. “Your death will look like an accident, Greene,” he said, corporate-shark smile on full show.

Gwaine raised his hands in surrender. “I kid, I kid,” he said. “You know, you three were really only a matter of time,” he added philosophically. “I told Merlin, there’s only so many times you can have a threesome with the same couple before it’s a relationship.” He winked at Merlin and sauntered off, snagging a beer from a random group and calling out to some of his rugby friends.

Merlin shook his head fondly and turned back to Arthur, who was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. He raised his own in question. “You _told_ him about those times?” Arthur said, outraged.

Merlin patted Arthur gently on the chest, fingers still slightly numb, admiring what the sun was doing to his hair. “Sounds like someone needs another drink,” he said, and leaned in for a kiss. Arthur’s lips were sticky-sweet, all Pimms and strawberries, and Merlin thought he could make summer last forever on just that. Arthur’s expression had softened when he pulled away, and his eyes were the colour of the sky. Gwen laughed and took Merlin’s hand, and they left Arthur in the shade of a tree as they went to find more drinks. He swung their hands between them, feeling very young.

* * *

**3 – Letting Agent (6 months after uni)**

Gwen let Arthur slide her coat from her shoulders as they followed the woman from the letting agency into the flat. It was nicer than the last one, at least, although that wasn’t hard. Two bed, a marginally less dodgy area. Expensive, but doable between the three of them.

She folded her coat over her arms and rubbed her hands together, trying to encourage some warmth back into them as the woman prattled on about light and square footage. Arthur took one of them between his warm ones, and she shot him a grateful look.

The letting agent paused and beamed at them. “You guys are so sweet together,” she said brightly. She turned to Merlin. “Are you a relative, then? Here for moral support?”

Gwen could practically see the way Merlin’s mind worked, at this point, and she had to admit she could use a bit of entertainment after a day of shitty flats and icy pavements. She felt Arthur start to explain, but squeezed his hand to shut him up. He gave her a wary look. He, too, knew Merlin, but he simply rolled his eyes and smiled benevolently with a tiny sigh. Gwen saw Merlin register what was happening, and watched his smile grow ever so slightly.

“Oh, no, I’m moving in too,” he said cheerfully. The agent waited for further explanation, but received none, her own smile growing a little fixed at Merlin’s verging-on-manic one.

“…Right,” she said, recovering. “That’s certainly generous of them. You must be very good friends.” Before Merlin could jump in, she moved on, clapping her hands together and moving down the hall. “Now, the master bedroom is just at the end there, but this second one is a great size,” she said, looking back at Merlin and opening the door they had stopped at.

They stepped in and nodded approvingly. Gwen decided to join in. “This will make a perfect dressing room,” she said. “A few wardrobes against that wall, a dressing table by the window. Don’t you think, honey?”

The agent continued to look politely baffled, but pulled her smile back up, preparing to regale them with more selling points until Merlin piped up. Gwen bit her tongue and forced herself not to smile.

“Will my cage go in here or in the living room?” he said thoughtfully, turning to face Gwen with big, innocent eyes.

Only years of Merlin experience stopped her from choking on her own spit. Arthur wasn’t quite so lucky, and she squeezed his hand tightly until he got himself under control. Merlin looked at her expectantly, and she allowed a moment of exasperation to slip through before picking up the thread, mind already ahead of itself.

“Oh, darling, you know you sleep on the floor now. We won’t even need the cage as long as you’re good,” she said sweetly, enjoying the flash of delight in his eyes as he struggled to keep his own straight face.

He nodded excitedly, turning back to the frozen letting agent. “They used to make me –”

Arthur, no doubt thinking he would actually like to get approved for somewhere to live, had found his limit, and placed a hand over Merlin’s mouth until he stopped talking. He met the woman’s gaze calmly. “I’m very sorry for my partners. Merlin is our boyfriend, not our pet sex slave or whatever he thinks he’s implying.”

Merlin made a muffled noise of indignation behind Arthur’s hand, but he was unmoved. “If I end up getting investigated because the pair of you cannot behave, I will break up with you, so help me God.”

He smiled gently at the agent before yanking his hand back in disgust from where Merlin had clearly given in and licked it. Merlin made a face at him before turning to face the woman, looking at least semi-apologetic. “Sorry,” he said. “Just having a bit of fun. Arthur here’s not familiar with the concept, but I still try.”

She nodded, somewhat dazed, but took a deep breath. “Right,” she said briskly, frowning at them for a second longer. “Shall we take a look at the master bedroom?”

Gwen smiled as she ducked past Merlin and Arthur, catching the start of a furious and whispered argument. The place really _was_ nice, she thought.

* * *

**4 – Gaius (a month later, about to move in together)**

Gaius’s ancient sofa creaked as Merlin threw himself down on it the same way he did every day. Carefully, he put his feet on the battered coffee table and tried to focus his eyes, frowning slightly. Gaius wandered in, holding a glass of water out. Merlin reached for it slowly and gulped it down.

“Oh, thank god,” he muttered, feeling his mouth come back to life.

Gaius made a noise of amusement as he sat beside him and flicked the lighter a few times before managing to hold a flame. He lit the joint again and inhaled before holding it out.

“I’m so high,” Merlin said sadly, taking it anyway. God, Gaius always had the good stuff. Must be those hippie connections. Gaius hummed in agreement.

Merlin took a hit and felt the pulse of sensation in his head. He breathed out a cloud of smoke and ran his tongue over his teeth. They felt very weird. He took another, smaller hit and passed the joint back.

“I can’t believe I didn’t know about this as a kid,” he mumbled. “With your whole…” He gestured at Gaius and his whole life: the long hair, the weird robes, the apartment full of odd plants and remedies.

Gaius laughed. “You were never the most observant child, if the number of times you managed to miss door frames and the step out of your room is anything to go by.” He held out the end of the joint again. Merlin shook his head and regretted it. It felt incredibly heavy.

“Can’t,” he said. “Shit is potent.”

Gaius shrugged and finished it, leaning back and resting his head against the back of the sofa. Merlin let his own fall back, his eyes half-shut. He frowned at the ceiling. Right, right, he was supposed to talk to Gaius about something. That.

“Gaius?”

“Mm?”

“You know how I’m moving out?”

“I did notice, mostly when I was helping with all those damned boxes. I’m old, Merlin.”

“I know, I know. No, listen. You know how I’m moving in with Gwen and Arthur?”

“You’re awfully repetitive when you’re high.”

“This is important, hang on. Right. So. I’m not moving in with them as like, a roommate.” Gaius waited. “We’re together. Like, I’m going out with them. We –”

“Merlin –”

The words were just falling out of his mouth at this point. They tasted a little odd. “Like, they were together, and then now we’re together. Lots of people do it nowadays, it’s called –”

“Merlin.”

“Mm?”

“I grew up in the sixties.”

Merlin frowned, his brain not so much smoothly switching tracks as slowly seeping across.

Gaius rolled his eyes. “My generation invented that,” he said dismissively.

Merlin’s brain dragged itself back into line, and the connections were finally made. “Oh! Oh. Ew. Not ew! Oh.”

Gaius snorted. They were silent a moment. “Do they make you happy?” he said gently.

Merlin felt an odd wave of emotion and fought back the sudden prickling in his eyes, telling himself firmly it was the leftover smoke.

“Yeah,” he said hoarsely. He cleared his throat. “They do.”

“Well then,” Gaius said. “That’s good enough for me, my boy.” He made an interested noise and reached forward, rummaging in the table and emerging with a half-full bag of weed. Merlin felt a little ill at the prospect, and it must have shown on his face. “Not for now, Merlin, good lord, for your new home. To share with the others.”

Merlin reached for it, then stopped. “I appreciate the thought, but ask me again next week. If I have to listen to stoned Arthur’s theory of peace and trees and Gwen’s eyes twice in a fortnight I may choke him.”

Gaius laughed and chucked it back onto the table. He sat back and awkwardly patted Merlin’s knee in that rough, gentle way of his, the way he had patched Merlin up and held him while he cried his whole life. Merlin swallowed around the lump in his throat again. This had always been his home, even when he was at university. Gaius had always been his home.

“Thanks, Gaius,” he said, hoping what he meant came across.

“Yes, well,” Gaius said, sniffing. “Will I make us some chips?”

“God, yes.”

* * *

**5 – Fundraising event (a couple of years later)**

Gwen made a noise of agreement into her drink and risked a look at Arthur across the room. He was a vision in his suit as always, but even from this distance his smile was getting a little fixed, his grip on his champagne flute tightening. She almost began to excuse herself, but caught motion in the corner of her eye and smiled at Merlin making a beeline for Arthur, looking similarly and uncharacteristically suave. She let half of her brain wander. She always enjoyed this part. Either they knew about Gwen, or they had clicked that Arthur was married, and assumed it was to a woman. They were rarely expecting Merlin.

Both options led to the exact expression that settled on Arthur’s conversation partner’s face as Merlin draped himself over Arthur’s shoulders and kissed his cheek. She saw some of the tension leave his back as he turned to kiss him back and introduce him.

She frowned a little as the uncomfortable expression on the man’s face didn’t fade, and she saw him glance around the room, panicked. Ah. One of those. Merlin always had a little too much fun with those ones, leaning as hard as possible into his role as scandalous bit on the side. She wondered if she would be called to the stage tonight, and decided the evening could use some livening up, anyway.

She excused herself, draining her glass and heading for another, conveniently close enough to hear the conversation. Her and Merlin had had a very funny night of planning to this effect a month or two ago, when an exasperated sober Arthur had entirely missed what they were laughing about.

Sneaking a glance, she smiled to herself as Merlin took Arthur’s hand and gave an exaggerated frown. He wasn’t a bad actor, really. Not a great liar, not to them, but a decent actor when the mood took him. She picked up a fresh glass of champagne and moved closer, straining her ears.

Right on cue, she heard Merlin start, none too quietly.

“Why are you wearing this, Arthur?” he said, accusingly.

“Merlin, what are you –”

Arthur, bless him, was always the last to know about these things. He had a tendency to get very uptight about it.

“You promised me,” Merlin insisted, a little louder.

“What are you talking about?”

“Are you still with her?” he demanded.

Gwen didn’t trust herself to look at them, but the familiar pause led her to believe Arthur had caught on, and the audible-at-ten-feet sigh confirmed it.

“Very funny, don’t start, Merlin. Sorry,” he started to say to the others.

“Sorry?” Merlin said. Gwen was aware she must look a little silly, standing on her own in the middle of the grand room, smiling into her glass. “You told me you were done with her.”

She decided that was as good a cue as any, and turned and walked towards them. Arthur was giving Merlin the dirtiest possible look, and Merlin’s eyes were sparkling.

Merlin wasn’t finished. “You said you loved me,” he said, his voice even breaking. Gwen fought for a straight face.

“Did I indeed,” Arthur said through gritted teeth, turning to face Gwen with the briefest expression of hope on his face before, unfortunately, he remembered every other time this had happened. He looked briefly heavenward.

“Honey?” Gwen said, giving her brightest and most insincere smile. Merlin grinned at her briefly, eyes raking up and down her tight dress, and took Arthur’s hand again. “Who’s this?”

Gwen dug deep. GCSE-drama deep. “Is this – is this _him_ , Arthur?”

“Yeah,” Merlin said challengingly. “I’m him. The one he loves.”

“You told me this was over, you told me it was a mistake!” She let an edge of hysteria bleed into her voice, cheerfully ignoring Arthur’s glare, which was now firmly turned on her.

“A mistake?! You said you loved me!”

Merlin was her favourite improv partner, he really was.

She gasped theatrically, hesitating only a moment before throwing the half-flute of champagne around Arthur. He knew her too well, resignation setting in a second before she moved. He even closed his eyes before it hit, dripping from his hair down to his jaw and onto his shirt.

Gwen deliberately did not look at Merlin, knowing it would be the end of her. She turned on her heel and flounced out dramatically, stopping only when she reached a convenient bench in the lobby. She sat, took her shoes off and waited.

Within a minute, the door burst open again and both emerged. It was a lost cause, this time. With no audience, she met Merlin’s gaze and they both lost it. Gone. Giggling hysterically while Arthur dripped and fumed, looking like he mightily regretted his love life.

“Gwen,” Merlin gasped. “Gwen, I love you so, so much and that dress is so hot.” She tried to get herself under control, grabbing the front of his shirt and hauling him in for a kiss even as she kept laughing against his lips. He slid a hand around her back and pulled her close, but she pulled back to look sheepishly at Arthur, who was still looking faintly murderous, but heading towards fond exasperation by the second.

“I cannot believe you two,” he said finally, mouth twitching. “Why do I put up with you?”

“Because you love us,” Merlin said cheerfully.

Arthur hadn’t quite reached full forgiveness yet, and shot him another dirty look. “Divorcing her is an awful lot more paperwork than just dumping you would be, but I could be persuaded to do both.”

Gwen reached to cup his cheek and tried to look contrite. She ran a hand through his slightly sticky hair, and he looked so damp and cross she lost the battle again and laughed. “Darling,” she said. He softened, rolling his eyes. She kissed him gently, tasting the champagne, and when she drew back he looked thoroughly distracted.

Merlin watched, amused. “You wouldn’t last a day without us,” he said.

“He’s right,” she said apologetically.

Arthur shook his head. “God help me,” he said. He pulled at his shirt with distaste.

Gwen put her hand over his. “We should get you out of those damp clothes,” she said seriously.

He looked up, a very familiar spark in his eyes, and dropped his gaze to her very lovely and very low-cut dress, which had really been neglected tonight, attention-wise. He looked at Merlin and grinned.

“Home?”

“Home.”

* * *

**+1 – Just them (the morning after)**

Arthur woke up slowly, stretching as he did. The bed was empty, but he could hear the soft sounds of the radio and the kettle from the kitchen, and before he was even fully awake, he smiled.

He sat up and ran a hand over his hair before standing. He took in the chaos of the room after the previous night, clothes and shoes everywhere. Rummaging in a drawer, he pulled on a shirt of Merlin’s he liked. Maybe he liked the way Merlin looked at him in it, too.

Fully awake, he ambled towards the kitchen and living room, but paused in the doorway to watch the show. That love song radio show was playing, because Merlin was secretly a sap, and Merlin and Gwen were doing a very dramatic and clumsy waltz to some horrible ballad. He twirled her and she almost fell, stumbling and laughing, all long legs and loose hair as she righted herself, wearing only one of their shirts from the night before.

They turned in circles on their way to the living room and Gwen dipped Merlin at a safe proximity to the sofa. Predictably, they both fell, giggling. Merlin was wearing a highlighter-pink hoodie with the logo of one of Gwen’s university clubs emblazoned on it. She set her chin on his chest for a moment before leaning up to kiss him, the white shirt riding up her legs as she did.

Arthur cleared his throat from where he was leaning against the door and they both looked around, grinning.

“I was showing him how it’s done, babe,” Gwen said cheerfully.

“You should be on Strictly, truly.”

“You just want to see me in something tight and sequinned,” Merlin accused.

Arthur shrugged. “What can I say?”

Merlin grinned and poked Gwen until she got off, before making his way over to kiss Arthur good morning. Arthur slid his hands into the pocket of the stupid hoodie and pulled him closer, inhaling him.

Gwen wandered over to the kettle to pour herself a tea, sipping it while Merlin set about making the insane coffee concoction he was on this month, weighing the grams of pure caffeine or whatever it was he did.

Arthur bumped his hip against Gwen’s. “Hi,” he said quietly.

“Hi,” she said, smiling. When she kissed him, her mouth was warm from the tea. The kitchen tile was cold under his feet, and Merlin was humming some stupid song while he poked and prodded at his coffee machine, and Arthur used to wonder about all the possible paths his life could have taken, but this morning he couldn’t imagine any other life at all.

**Author's Note:**

> please let me know what you thought, first time with anything that isn't merthur! (which i will be going back to after this anyway)
> 
> thank you for reading and happy birthday again to [ eat_crow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eat_crow/pseuds/eat_crow), i hope you liked it lol <3
> 
> feel free to check out my other fics! and i'm also on [tumblr](https://idlestories.tumblr.com/) under the same handle if you'd like to follow me there


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